This invention relates to moisture separator reheaters used in power plants and more particularly to a moisture trap disposed above the moisture separator portion.
Motive steam having done its work in a high pressure turbine is at reduced pressure and temperature so that it is laden with moisture. To remove the moisture and increase the temperature and thermal efficiency of the turbine unit the exhaust steam from the high pressure turbine is passed through a moisture separator reheater (MSR) to remove entrained moisture and reheat the dried steam before it is sent back to a lower pressure turbine to do additional work. The shell of the MSR is large so that some of the entrained moisture is separated from the motive steam as the steam swirls therethrough. Some of this separated moisture collects on plates disposed in the shell above the separator and drips down into the flow path of the steam entering the separator reentraining in the steam as shown in the attached drawing depicting prior art. The relatively large droplets have a tendency to erode the inlet portion of the moisture separator reducing its efficiency. U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,278 shows a moisture separator reheater with a cap over the ledge above the separator and U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,796 shows a trough on the side of horizontally disposed separators.